Archives for February 2019

During our visit to Paraguay, as part of the YEEE Project, all organizations are part of the Training Course focused on social entrepreneurship in rural areas through non-formal education and coordination for the following exchange activities in Mexico.

The activities carried out as energizers, games, team work, among others, helped to create good dynamics and connection among the organizations. Which, in turn, generated a good synergy and approach to create feasible proposals for the other projects.

From a perspective where non-formal education is not completely linked in our daily life, we find it quite enriching as a tool and methodology to learn. The knowledge acquired, such as Roger Hart’s participatory staircase, has been of great benefit to be applied in the In Terris Foundation projects, as it has constant links with nearby communities. One of the phrases that we take from the course is that “the same solution is not applicable for all realities / communities”, many times we believe to be right for what has been experienced or worked in another sector, however the first step is always listen to the needs of the other.

Having known a little more about all the organizations and their contribution to society, it was really inspiring to continue growing and creating new projects.

From Project Kieu, in Spain, three people traveled to Cerrito (Paraguay) to learn about social entrepreneurship and non-formal education. There, after divesting ourselves of fears and stereotypes, we formed a group with 15 other people from different parts of the world (Portugal, Italy, Ecuador, Mexico and Paraguay). For ten days we were able to discover everything that Fundación Paraguaya offered us, from which we learned a lot and to which we are very grateful for this and for their heartwarming welcome.
Throughout these days, from October 29th to November 6th, we learned a way of working that will help us in our everyday work to implement some of the sessions. We also reinforce techniques in non-formal education to apply in all our local activities. Each of the participants contributed something to our personal and work development. In addition, learning by doing is a technique that Project Kieu applies daily and we had the opportunity to facilitate a session on leadership and limits, which has served oursleves to strengthen knowledge and see other perspectives on the same topic.

We also had the opportunity to discover how the San Francisco Agricultural School works and everything it offers its young students. As well as, the method of “The Traffic Light of Poverty”, a novel technique that fascinated all the participants. That same day we visited an indigenous community near the place, where we could talk to the leader who brought us closer to his reality. In the same way, we toured the streets of the Paraguayan capital, Asunción.
This experience has allowed us to live in Latin America, expand our network of contacts with other entities with which to develop new projects, return with many friendships, ideas to implement in Spain and extra motivation to move forward fulfilling the dreams we want to carry out in our community . For all this, we want to thank all the people who made it possible; knowing our differences, we learned that everyone is fighting for the same goal, social progress.

Associação Juventude de Vila Fonche recently participated in another activity with the support of the Erasmus + program. This activity (Training Course for Youth Workers) was held in Cerrito (Paraguay), from October 28th to November 6th.
During this training course, the Associação Juventude de Vila Fonche was represented by Diana Cerqueira, Francisco Barros and Hélder Costa. This training course was part of a project entitled “YEEE – Youth Educations on Environment & Entrepreneurship”. YEEE is a Capacity Building project coordinated by the Italian organization P.E.CO. and we, Associação Juventude de Vila Fonche, participate as partners. In addition to these two organizations, this project also is an alliance with others organization as an European organization (Spain) and three Latin America organizations (Mexico, Ecuador and Paraguay).
This capacity building project will last two years and its main objective is to share good practices on youth policies developed in European countries and in Latin American countries on the themes of “environment” and “sustainability” , of the implementation of activities based on non-formal education and social entrepreneurship.

During the training course that took place in Paraguay, youth workers from different countries explored and learned new work tools on social entrepreneurship and how these tools can play an essential role for rural development. There was also time for a deeper analysis of the needs of partner organizations and the development of an action plan to meet these same needs.
For us, Associação Juventude de Vila Fonche, this training course has allowed us to reflect internally and redefine strategies for the future and sustainability of our organization. They were, without doubt, intense days, full of many personal and professional learning and reflections.
In the last two days of this training course the two Youth Exchanges that are part of this project have been planned. The first exchange will take place in Mexico from January 10th to 18th and the second one will be in Italy from March 19th to 27th. These exchanges will involve 5 participants, between the ages of 18 and 30, and 2 group leaders from each of the partner organizations. During these two activities, participants are expected to learn some tools of social entrepreneurship and perceive / reflect on the importance and impact that these projects can assume for rural development.
The three people who represented the Associação Juventude de Vila Fonche returned with their backpack full of new learnings and new ideas for future projects that, without a doubt, will benefit our organization, as well as the young people of our community.

The Training Course of the YEEE project (Youth Educations on Environment & Entrepreneurship) was recently completed, in which six organizations from Europe and Latin America participated: a microcosm of global equilibrium at a time when the term “divisive” is among the most popular. On the contrary, we act against this current because we are solidarity organizations. During this project we have developed an effective cooperation through dialogue, the creation of relationships and concrete products and we encourage cultural and social exchanges in various ways, even with dance.
Six organizations from Italy, Ecuador, Spain, Mexico, Portugal and Paraguay, with different histories, practices and approaches, met in Cerrito in Paraguay: a beautiful place where the agricultural school of the organization “Fundación Paraguaya” is located.

We had the opportunity to learn about the incredible work that the organization carries through a network of sustainable schools and specific projects such as, for example, the “traffic light for the elimination of poverty” project. The purpose of this project is to activate the potential of individuals and families to not just reduce but eliminate multidimensional poverty by implementing self-assessment tools.
The foundation organized the Training Course with the help of the organization PECO, promoter of the project.
Specifically, the issue of social entrepreneurship has been addressed, a different way of doing business, but with specific characteristics to be taken into account.Each organization had the opportunity to analyze their work and find positive ideas to apply in the future.
In addition, European organizations offered their experiences about non-formal education: a useful tool in educational processes of various types.
The training course was also a means to get to know each other and to better organize future exchanges of young people, which will represent a moment of strong growth for our youth and an incubator of ideas for a sustainable future.